Rationale

Africa is the largest cassava producing region in the world accounting for nearly 55%of the world's cassava production. However, Africa's yields are the lowest in the world standing at only 10 tonnes per hectare compared to 26 tonnes per hectare in India (African Agricultural Technology Foundation, AATF, 2017).

Sorghum bicolor is an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia and is the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world as well as the most important cereal food in the Northern states of Nigeria that covers the guinea savannah ecological zone (FAO, 2004).

Finally, Nigeria depends on about 3 million tons of parboiled rice imports to meet half of its rice demand (Global Agricultural Information Network, 2014). Rice is a staple food in several African nations and constitutes a bigger portion of the diet on a regular basis. In the last thirty years, rice showed constant increases in sales and its rising significance reflects the strategic food security initiatives adopted in many nations. Aside from a handful of nations that enjoy self-sufficiency in rice cultivation, rice consumption surpasses production and substantial amount of the crop are imported to sustain local demand at the expense of hard earned foreign currency reserves. Throughout the closing decades of the 20th century, Nigeria's rice output reached overwhelmingly high levels. From the rapid rise in farmland area devoted to rice during that era in Nigeria, the production and consumption increased enormously. However, the growing output has not been adequate enough to meet the rising demand. To bridge such a huge deficit in the face of policy flaws, Nigeria resorted to the massive importation of rice at an unprecedented rate. Given the rising profile of rice as an essential element of Nigeria's food menu and the fact that imported rice accounts for a major portion of the nation's food imports, there is a growing desire among policy makers to boost rice production locally (Meremet al., 2017).

Rationale: The Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) has a great potential in enhancing the role of agriculture as an engine of inclusive growth leading to rural employment, wealth creation, and diversification of the economy. A major policy accomplishment in the sector is the liberation of seed and fertilizer supply, which had hitherto been controlled by the Federal Government, undermined the private sector and did not deliver the inputs to genuine farmers. Since September 2011, fertilizers and seeds are being sold by companies directly to farmers. Lending commitments from commercial banks has been leveraged using guarantees issued by the Ministry of Finance to finance the seed and fertilizer supply.

The Program is also in line with the Bank's Agricultural Sector Strategy (AgSS) (20102014) which emphasizes investment in agricultural infrastructure as means of boosting agricultural productivity, food and nutrition security, and wealth creation; and Bank's Strategy (2013-2022) as it pertains to inclusive growth objective through the involvement of youth, women and skills development. It is also in alignment with Pillar 2